For our publicly listed app, we have implemented full-funnel app installation tracking, including the Google Analytics API secret.
We notice a massive drop off in the funnel of installation conversion events.
There’s a natural drop off between App Listing page views (“page_view” event) and the users who then click on the big “Install” button (“Add App button” event), which is understandable.
But there is then a sizeable drop off between the next “Install app” screen where the user needs to just confirm and approve access to the app, and hit the smaller “Install” button, after which we receive a “shopify_app_install” event.
Our funnel looks like:
“page_view” events = 100%
“Add App button” events = 15%
“shopify_app_install” events = <1%
Maybe a 1% conversion rate from listing view to actual installation is typical?
But my real question is - what causes the massive drop off between “Add App button” and “shopify_app_install” events? It seems strange that a user would click on the initial “Install” button, but then not complete the installation.
Are there any insights Shopify can share that account for this behaviour?
Is there anything we can do to improve it and reduce the drop off between steps?
We’re pretty new. So it’s hard to know what the norm is.
Our theories are:
Are we asking for too many permissions? Merchants get to the next installation screen and do not want to grant access to our app. We have kept the requested permission list as tight as possible though.
Maybe a lot of that traffic is clicking on the instal button without realising the implications or maybe don’t even have a Shopify store. But it seems like too many clicks to be mistakes.
Is something going drastically wrong with the installation process? I’m not sure at what point the actual shopify_app_install event is triggered. Is it upon clicking the second install button, or only after the app has completed full installation? I don’t know. But could this indicate our app is failing to install for many merchants?
Having spoken to a Partner Support Rep, they took a look at. how we are set up, how our installation and authentication flow is working, and said everything looks fine. They didn’t have any ideas as to why there might be such a big drop off between “Add App button” events and “shopify_app_install” events.
To any other apps out there: what kind of drop off do you see between “Add App button” events and “shopify_app_install” events.
For us, the % of users (users, not clicks) who complete app installation (triggering the “shopify_app_install” event) is between 5-10% of those that clicked on the “Install” button of the app listing (triggering the “Add App button” event).
A 90-95% drop off seems staggering. Especially as clicking the initial Install button must be a pretty strong indicator that the merchant is interested in using the app.
What kind of drop off are the rest of you seeing with your apps?
Having followed up with a partner support agent, they looked into our account and found that by their records, the difference between what they call a ‘shallow’ install (first click) and a ‘deep’ install (second click) was only a 20% drop off, which sounds pretty standard. So it seems like the “Add App button” event is over counting.
We decided to disregard Add App button event, as it’s not the final conversion metric, and there’s little influence we have between the two steps. Still, it’s good to know that we weren’t loosing 100s of customers during installation flow.